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Criminal Law

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I've been in treatment for most of the year. I began to

Hi. I've been in...

Hi. I've been in treatment for most of the year. I began to receive checks written in my name from my insurance company.. I cashed the checks without realizing it was to be turned over to the treatment center I was attending. I've began getting calls from the lab company tgat was to receive the checks. I dont have any money to repay. Will I go to jail if they press charges?

Lawyer's Assistant: Since laws vary from place to place, what state is this in? And just to clarify, have charges been officially filed?

I'm a resident of NC and I was receiving treatment in California.

Lawyer's Assistant: Have you talked to a lawyer yet?

No

Lawyer's Assistant: Anything else you want the lawyer to know before I connect you?

While incarceration is among those possible punishments if you were convicted of misappropriating these funds, if this is your first encounter with the criminaljustice system, the worst you would be looking at if you wanted to resolve this matter with a plea rather than go to trial would be probation. The state would want you punished but they would also want the victim to get his money back, and the best way to see to that would be to put you on probation so that you could work and make you pay restitution until you pay off the treatment center.

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Customer reply replied 1 year ago

Would the plea deal or guilty verdict fraud i.e. prevent me from working in the medical field in the future? Would I have an opportunity to get the charge expunged? Also could I be fired from my job since it was my employers insurance company?

Would the plea deal or guilty verdict fraud i.e. prevent me from working in the medical field in the future?

It depends on the kind of job you have in the medical field. If you have a state license, you can lose it for a felony conviction and it can be suspended for a misdemeanor.

Would I have an opportunity to get the charge expunged?

If you could get first offender treatment you could get this conviction dismissed. You should have a criminal lawyer if you're charged with a crime and let him work out something like that for you. That could protect your ability to work in the health industry.

Also could I be fired from my job since it was my employers insurance company?

Yes, you could lose your job if they found out that you were convicted of a crime. That would be true whether or not the alleged victim was involved in some way with your employer.

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Customer reply replied 1 year ago

I currently don't work in the medical field I'm jist starting school for that. And the company that was suppose to receive the payments is a 3rd party vendor for lab work.At the time the moment the lab company stated they haven't as of yet but will forward the account to collections and their attorney in the future.

The medical field is highly restrictive. They like their applicants to have clean records wherever possible. So make sure that if you're charged with a crime you tell your lawyer that you are in school to enter the health field and that you want to avoid a criminal conviction if at all possible.

Meanwhile, if the lab is putting this to collections, then it looks like they are going to proceed against you civilly rather than criminally. Make arrangements to pay off what you can and to get a payment schedule. Then they may not bother to seek a prosecution.

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DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.

The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).